The sugar cane harvesting and crushing season has finished for 2023 after a tough year for growers which saw more than 1.1 million tonnes crushed across Sunshine Sugar mills at Broadwater, Condong, and Harwood.

Cane growers have experienced mixed emotions during the 2023 season as the region worked through crop recovery post the 2022 floods and decreased sugar supply.

While the lengthy dry period in 2023 made for ideal harvesting conditions and encouraged higher than average sugar content across all Sunshine Sugar crops, the conditions were drier than ideal for planting.

The dry conditions delayed planting for some growers who were looking to boost production to take advantage of record prices on offer of over $50 per tonne.

The first Sunshine Sugar mill to finish crushing for the season was Harwood, which crushed 404,799 tonnes of cane by 2.30am on October 23.

This was followed by the Condong mill, where crushing for the season finished on November 2, after a total of 398,760 tonnes were crushed.

The last bin at the Broadwater mill was tipped on November 3, and saw the annual cane crop for the Richmond River region reach 307,546 tonnes crushed.

Sunshine Sugar CEO Chris Connors said, “The positive outlook for sugar prices is playing a key role in sustaining the NSW sugar industry as it continues to rebuild from the flood events of 2022.”

“Whilst the 2023 season was a short one, we were prepared for it and had put measures in place to safeguard and support our growers and our business,” he said.

“We did this by supplementing our raw sugar stocks with supply from Queensland to maintain production in our refinery, which in turn has enabled us to maintain sales to our domestic customers.”

Next year, more crops are coming online as growers replant, and in some cases, expand their cropping area.

The three Sunshine Sugar mills expect to see a much longer season next year as these new crops come online.